The Washington critic., 1887-02-26
THE CARRIERS STORY.

8 IHE CAKKIER . SIUKY.
It was the Friday evening before
Christmas, 49,, the evening after
market day, the Exmouth Christmas
Market, and busy day, too. I
had been hard at work collecting
hampers and parcels, and was glad
when the time came In the evening to
put my two horses into the van and
made start for home. The yard of
the Black Lion was full of vans and
traps Of all sorts; so this evening my
half score Of passengers waited out
side the inn yard for me to pick them
up. They were oil comfortably seated
mo, won't say comfortably seated,
the van was too full of parcels and
hampers for them to be comfortable
they were just seated then, and l was
on the point Of starting when little
woman In black came up to the van
and asked me If 1 was Mr.. Penhor-
wool, the Exmouth carrier?
"Yes, my DEAR" l answered.
Somehow or other at Christmas time,
! say, my dear" to nearly everybody.
But the little woman In black did not
return the compliment, but quietly
said:
"Can you take parcel for me to
Exmouth ?"
"Yes. my-marm, with all the pleas.
ure 10 life," answered.
THANK you; am Mrs. Bates, the
dressmaker, and want to send this
parcel Of patterns to my friend, Miss
Esther Marsh. Do you know her %
II can't say do, marin, although 1
think know most people at Exmouth.
ut doesn't matter, the parcel will be
called for at your house. What have
to pay 2"
"0h, parcel of this size will be
three. pence"
very we'll; here is a shilling; never
mind the change; keep 1t, but please
take care Of this parcel till it's called
for"
Eyes, I will. marin, and thank you,
too, and wish you very merry Christ
mas and"
But the little woman In black, Mrs.
Bates, was gone, so flung the parcel
to the back Of the van, and drove Off.
who's Mrs. Bates, the dressmaker?'
asked Nancy Pinn, one of my regular
passengers.
"Blest If I know" l answered. ~
have taken parcels to great many
dressmakers, but none for her before;
don't know her at all; didn't know
there was such body"
None of my other passengers knew
her either, although they were all
frequent visitors to the city; but 1t did
not matter to me who Mrs. Bates was;
she had paid me we'll, the parcel was to
be called for, and that was enough.
BY the next evening-Saturday even
tng-all my parcels and hampers had
been delivered. all except the brown
paper parcel, which was TO be called
for. No one did call for 1t, and Christ
mas Day passed, and Exmouth market
day came round again, but the parcel
was still lying about in the shop.
lyon had better try to find out Mrs.
Bates, and tell her the parcel has not
been called for" said my wife before
started with the van for Exmouth.
II shall not do anything of the kind,
my dear; It may be called for while I'm
away to-day, and II 1t is not, what's the
odds9 It's only parcel of patterns"
! might as well add here that the
parcel was not called for; and after
lying about In the shop for some time,
II found Its way up into the loft, where
1t fell down behind some old worn. out
emIty hampers and other lumber. aud
was forgotten.
II was not busy day at Exmouth
this first Friday after Christmas Day,
and early In the afternoon was ready
TO start for home. My two or three
passengers talked, while we were upon
our bomeward journey, about nothing
else Qhey were so full OF news) than
the sudden death of old Squire Yeo of
Mount Radford, which had taken
place the Friday night before.
what makes 1t so very strange Is,
said Nancy Plnn, "no one can find
anything of the large sum of money
that he drew out of the bank the day
before he died."
$50 l hear" I made answer. "IIe
drew out fifty thousand pounds in
bank notes, having an Idea that the
Western Counties Bank was not safe"
"Yes," said Nancy. che was always
aqueer old man; and they say, too
that unless the money is found his
grandson, Mr.. John Yeo, will be as
poor as-well, as poor as myself"
Some such conversation as this we
generally INDUCED in; 1t whiled away
the tediousness of the journey. Not a'
oil times, perhaps, were the items OF
news picked up In the city so true as
this last piece of gossip about Squire
Yeo. This was perfectly true; the old
gentleman had died very suddenly the
day after he had withdrawn his ac
count from the bank. and what had be.
come Of the money was mystery.
Large rewards were offered, and the
affair was the talk and wonder of the
country for the next nine days. After
that II was nearly forgotten, except by
the parties really concerned. The
losers, of course, could never forget.
What had become of the money re-
mained mystery.
Ten years had passed-ten prosper.
Gus years for me. had prospered In
business, so much so that / had been
able to take my house and shop, with
the dwelling house next door, on 9
sixty years lease from the Role Es.
tate and had sufficient sum In the
bank to enable me to put into thorough
restoration and repair my little prop.
eriy.
In the little house next door lived an
artist and his wife and two little chill.
dren named Yeo. Very poor they
wtre, and, owing to my contemplated
, restoration, they had had six months